Montenegrin basketball players will participate in the pre-qualifications for the 2026 World Cup, the World Basketball Federation (FIBA) announced.
The FIBA Executive Committee approved the expansion of the competition system for women, so 32 national teams will play at the next World Championship, four more than before.
A total of 16 national teams will participate in two tournaments, eight of which will go to Mexico City and eight to Kigali (Rwanda).
Potential rivals from Africa are Senegal, Mali, Rwanda and Mozambique, when it comes to America, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina will play in the tournaments, and from the Asia/Oceania zone, New Zealand, Korea, the Philippines and Lebanon will play.
In addition to the Montenegrin selection from Europe, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Great Britain will seek their chance in the pre-qualifications.
The tournaments will be played in Mexico and Rwanda from August 19 to 25 this year.
Each tournament will consist of a group stage (two groups of four teams each), followed by semi-finals and finals.
Each group will have four teams from four different continents.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals, while the winner of each tournament will qualify for the World Cup.
24 teams will participate in the qualification tournaments for Mundobasket, with the winners of the pre-qualification tournaments in Mexico and Rwanda and another 22 teams determined by the results of the FIBA women's continental competitions in 2025.
The World Championship is scheduled from September 4 to 13, 2026 in Berlin.
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